Zak Hale Kicks Ass At Mogul Duel

When you grow up at Bear and have a nickname like Zak Hale Back Tail, you’re not expected to be good at mogul racing (not that anyone is, except, strangely, for Ripcurl Canada Marketing Manager Myrosha Daley and Rampion Distribution’s Travis Williams, who’ve proved they have a knack for it over the three years the event’s been around). So it seemed unlikely that Zak would win the Mogul Duel, given the thick field of local chargers and especially after Myrosha posted the fastest time of the day on his first run. But then Zak dropped in and bettered him. Not to be outdone, Myrosha stepped up and reclaimed the top spot. And Zak bettered him again.

Zak Hale gets a solid pull out of the start gate while Myrosha Daley, right corner, waits on deck. Photo Russell Dalby/Monster Energy

As it turns out, Zak has a secret to share.

“I’ll give a little insight here,” said Zak. “When I was 10 years old I was the Giant Slalom National Champion. My dad duct-taped my pants for speed.”

Well now things make a little more sense.

Before Zak and Myrosha could conclude their rivalry in the finals though, the rest of the riders had to finish their runs to see who would compete for third and fourth. Here’s how the Mogul Duel works: competitors get three runs to log the fastest times they can on the gated mogul course which has a mandatory air three-quarters of the way down. Those with the first and second fastest times go head-to-head in the Big Final where the first across the finish line wins. The same goes for the two riders with the third and fourth fastest times who move to the Small Final. The advantage goes to the rider with the fastest time, however, because he gets to pick his lane. Zak wisely chose the blue lane, which was decidedly faster than the red option and so crossed the finish line first.

Myrosha points it down the blue lane to take the lead back from Zak for a moment. Photo Russell Dalby/Monster Energy

“I didn’t know who he was, but be seems like kind of a big deal around here,” said Zak of facing off against Myrosha. “I found out that he works at Ripcurl and he sits behind a desk. I was like, ‘Fuck this is going to be embarrassing if he beats me.’”

The real moment of Myrosha’s defeat may have came earlier though, when instead of taking a third run to try to top Zak’s time he had to proof a catalog (iPhones aren’t always a good thing #digitaldetox).

“It was all lane choice,” said Myrosha. “There was not a hope on red side. It was 16 seconds of hell.”

Zak Hale in full tuck mode. Photo Russell Dalby/Monster Energy

In the Small Final Matthew Turncliffe and Marcus Cluver battled for third and fourth. After throwing a backflip off the jump for extra style points Marcus crossed the finish line first.